Travel info meter is 94% Wed. May 24 A travel day to Aix-en-Provence. Sad to leave Barcelona but France, particularly the wine country in the south in the area called Provence was next on our itinerary. Even though we’ve done a lot of homework regarding this next stop we seem to get surprised more often than not and Provence which boasts many small villages and microclimates had that potential.
We leave our great 4th floor apartment in Eixample and take the local bus to the train station. We get there in plenty of time and have our coffee and cakes and head for security. Normally you just walk onto the train but today everyone’s luggage and bags is xrayed and we head for a lineup to send us to the correct platform right before boarding.
We wait our turn and finally we’re given the go-ahead and he says ‘Just go ahead’… well there’s nobody in front of us now and the train leaves in minutes but there’s 2 options for ‘Just go ahead’ and we pick the wrong one (Carol was leading, honest). So we start down a dark corridor and there’s no one behind us and their calling our train. Abrupt turn dragging our carry-ons, packsack and handbag flying but we’re joking with each other because it just doesn’t end.
Anyways made it to the first of two trains, this one a TGV high-speed version and off we go. It starts ordinary enough but soon we are flying. It’s very subtle really because the ride is super smooth and quiet but you look out the window and the trees and poles are clicking by (very cool).
This next section belongs under Glossary of Culture and it’s about train etiquette. When you’re on a train for 2 or more hours the people around you are like you’re little community so there’s certain dos and dont’s .
Carol has a pet peeve regarding people who eat food out of plastic or foil bags (chips, crackers, meatloaf) and you can see her squirm and look over to see who dares to make that irritating noise over and over. But she is 10x worse because in her thriftiness she brings aboard fruits and vegetables like carrots and apples (they’re cheap and nutritious). Well when she takes that first bite of a carrot when nobody is expecting it you can see people being startled awake or drop their book. And when she chomps into an apple it’s like a hippo snapping the spine on a crocodile. And it takes her 10 minutes to eat it. I’m just waiting for somebody to throw something our way to get her to stop. She gives me heck for nibbling on a peach or pear taking chipmunk-sized bites or she claims I chew my ice cream. That girl has some deep seated issues regarding food. Who raised her anyways?
So, back to the recap. Our first stop is in Valence where they have a good-sized station that where you have go climb about 30 stairs to get to the upper platforms which lead out of the terminal. So we’re lugging our stuff up the stairs but there’s a bottleneck right ahead of us and it’s a 98 year old woman, petite, but feisty and she’s struggling to carry her luggage and climb the stairs. She takes about 5 steps, wipes her brow, pants briefly, and plugs along with anguish on her face. So, me being a gentleman, I offer to carry it for her and hoist it up with my hand that only has 2 bags in it and I lead the way to the top. She struggles to make it but is very thankful and compliments me in French. Fine, I start walking away and I see her head back for the stairs and look down, way down, and there’s another bottleneck on the stairs and it’s her 124 year old husband who is slogging his suitcase up the stairs holding everybody up behind him. He has a fierce determination on his face and he’s going to get the job done if it kills him. Well finally he let’s the service clerk help him and the couple are reunited at the top of the stairs and they hug. It was awesome, I wanted to clap. You see lots of very elderly people travelling on the train, some with hiking backpacks and it’s very impressive.
It was a one hour layover at the station so we grabbed some food. I picked an almond, honey glazed flan with extra filling and Carol had a raisin and a prune.
All over airports and train stations they have put pianos for people to play. There’s some great youtube videos of jazz pianists and formally-trained musicians sitting down to entertain anybody who is around. We had a couple of fairly good attempts made by some students and then an elderly guy who must have been good in his day. But, I noticed that this 900 lb. Instrument was chained to a post. Are you kidding me? Who’s going to run away with a piano down 30 stairs.
So the second train was uneventful and we made it into Aix-en-Provence by bus from the train terminal which was 20 minutes out of town and Carol and I both were blown away by how BIG Aix was. We were figuring a sleepy tourist town of 20-30,000 but it’s about 125,000 and it was a freaking zoo with activity. Our plan was to rent a car for a few days of small trips to take in the many sights but after my previous rental car experience in France I wasn’t so sure, but that will be covered in the next travel installment.
Over and out for now.
Blue Delivery 
Another hilarious escapade at my sister’s expense!!
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